"The most interesting thing about Herzog and De Meuron’s newly opened concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, isn’t its wave-like facade, which rises above the city of Hamburg, Germany. It’s not the gently curved elevator at the base of the lobby that deposits you into the belly of the Swiss architects’ alien landscape. And it’s not the Escher-esque stairways that guide you from one floor to the next.

Though Hamburg’s $843 million philharmonic is filled with stunning architectural gems, its most interesting feature is the central auditorium, a gleaming ivory cave built from 10,000 unique acoustic panels that ...

"This book brings together 23 contributions relating to string orchestras, but also to strings in orchestras, under the reign of Louis XIV. With the center, Versailles practices: the tyrant had paid little attention to the expense to impress the world and erect to the and his royalty, in fact already declining and for this reason, an outstanding monument, including music. Versailles was a reference - certainly partly phantasmagoric - to the princes of the whole earth, even to those who never showed their majesty or the tip of their noses. ...

Venice was a major centre of music and culture in its own right. It was also the centre from which musicians, their music, and the instruments they played were exported and imported all over Europe. We may not be able to turn the River Cam into the Grand Canal, but over these two weeks we guarantee to evoke the musical culture of this most remarkable of cities in its heyday! ...

"2017 marks the coming of age of the much loved Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival, (Friday 26 – Monday 29 May) as the Festival celebrates its thirty years of music-making alongside an extraordinary year for culture in the region, as Hull is 2017 City of Culture.

Initiated by the local authority, with the aim of attracting visitors to the area to discover a rich medley of history, striking architecture and music of the past, over the years the Festival has grown to be recognised as a ‘jewel in the cultural crown’ of the region, attracting internationally renowned performers of early music to appear in a programme alongside emerging youth ensembles and engaging community projects. ...

From both sides of the Atlantic, the month of March celebrates early music in a big way.

"Early Music Month of March 2017", promoted in North America by Early Music America (EMA) is "designed to raise awareness of early music throughout the North American music community. Early Music Month seeks to connect enthusiasts, performers, presenters, scholars, builders, students, venues, and more to bring early music to its widest audience ever."

Opting for a more specific day, "European Early Music Day 2017 - 21st of March" promoted in Europe by the Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne - European Early Music Network (REMA) "is held every year on 21st March, a day celebrating the beginning of spring, and the birthday of Early Music’s period probably most relevant and known composers: Johann Sebastian Bach (born on 21st March 1685, according to the Julian Calendar)."

"These productions began life a few years apart in Drottningholm before double-bill revivals at the Dutch National Opera and La Monnaie in Brussels. Pierre Audi’s post-Baroque stagings are often astutely deliberate in pacing and action, and are designed simply but artfully (beautiful 18th-century-style costumes, economical lighting, use of mechanical stage flats). At their best, they function as compellingly psychological dramas reminiscent of tragedies by Shakespeare and Racine. ...

"In spite of the immense success he enjoyed in his lifetime, Sigismund Neukomm (born in Salzburg in 1778, died in Paris in 1858 at the age of eighty) is practically forgotten nowadays. Yet he left a catalogue of nearly two thousand works, including fifty masses and a number of oratorios and motets. ...

"For "WFMT welcomes GRAMMY-nominated lutenist, Ronn McFarlane to Impromptu. He and fellow all-star veteran of the lute, Paul O’Dette, perform[ed]virtuoso duets from Elizabethan Italy and England at the University of Chicago on January 8."

"An Interview by Tom Bickley, Compact Disc Reviews Editor, with members of the Flanders Recorder Quartet for their approaching 30th Anniversary and Final Tour

Since being founded in 1987, the Flanders Recorder Quartet (FRQ) has evolved into one of the world ’s top ensembles.Their success in 1990 at the prestigious Musica Antiqua competition in Bruges (Belgium), organized by the Flanders Festival, was the start of an extensive concert career. ...

"“Boston is a music city, look at how many music schools are here and at the number of people purchasing concert tickets,” says Steve Morse, a Globe staff critic from the 1970s through the 2000s. “There should be much more coverage.” ...

From a recent newsletter, the Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras announce their upcoming confirmed tour dates and suggest to monitor their website and social media pages for updates.

Monteverdi 450
April - October 2017

An international cast of soloists, together with members of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, will celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi's birth by performing his Vespers and surviving trilogy of operas: L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea, across Europe and the USA. ...

"The Dunedin Consort continues to dominate the 'Best Of' lists that are so popular at year end. Here are just some of the accolades the brilliant Christmas Oratorio collected: 2016 Best Classical Christmas Releases - The Observer ; The Year's Best Seasonal Releases - The Arts Desk: Notable Performances and Recordings of 2016 - The New Yorker ; Top 100 Discs Of The Year 2016 - Presto Classical; One Of The Albums For Christmas - Berliner Zeitung. ...

News from Ut Orpheus Edizioni that the most recent issue of Ad Parnassum Journal is now available.

The contents of this issue:

EDITORIAL
Massimiliano Sala
A New Network on Music Criticism

ARTICLES
Michael Talbot
Robert Valentine and the Roman Concerto Grosso
Joshua S. Walden
«Novelty, Wit and an Abundance of Ideas»: The Mid-Eighteenth-Century German Instrumental Cadenza as Interpretation ...

"The National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) announces the launch of its free online early music artist directory.

The directory contains a comprehensive list of early music artists and ensembles working across the UK. It is presented alphabetically, across specialist periods including: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical and also by style including: vocal, instrumental, consort and soloist. Each entry includes biographical information, an image and any relevant You Tube video audio soundbites. The directory is easy to navigate and will be an invaluable resource for the early music community, promoters and agents. ...

"2017 is a significant year for the York Early Music Festival, as the internationally acclaimed 10-day summer festival celebrates its 40th anniversary and announces a new three-year partnership with specialist insurer, Hiscox. ...

"It was filthy, cramped and in major disarray, but when art historian Eva Lindqvist Sandgren entered the library in Altomuenster Abbey, off-limits to all but the German monastery's nuns for more than five centuries, she immediately knew she was looking at a major treasure.

The dusty shelves held at least 500 books, by her estimate, including precious illuminated manuscripts from the 16th century, chants used by the uniquely women-led Bridgettine Order and processionals bursting with colorful religious and ornamental decoration in their margins. ...

"Norway will be the first country to start turning off FM radio. Over the course of 2017, the FM radio network will slowly be switched off, with listeners only able to listen to digital programmes instead.

The northern county of Nordland will cease to broadcast FM radio from tomorrow, with other regions following suit throughout the year. ...

This is Arta Records second CD installment of the "Jan Dismas Zelenka: Psalmi Vespertin" set.

"Beginning late in 1725 and ending towards the end of 1728, he composed three cycles of 33 compositions for Vespers. Each cycle begins with a setting of the psalm Dixit Dominus and then develops to serve one or more Vespers sequences. Thus, the psalm texts set by Zelenka for this entire project could be used for almost every Vespers service of the liturgical year (Psalms for Saturday Vespers before the four Sundays of Advent, Saturday Vespers before Septuagesima, and Vespers of Wednesday of Holy Week were not set by Zelenka). ...

"Historical dance workshop will focuse on reconstruction of Sarabande d'Issé, theatrical dance for a couple (man and woman). Among different versions of this choreography of sarabande à deux, extract from Issé by Destouches, we have chosen to work on the choreography created by Mr. Pécour and notated by Mr. Gaudrau (1713). ...

"This Christmas Eve we offer a dual discussion: first a brief mention of a 15th-century painting of the Nativity, and secondly a synopsis of a miniature musical masterpiece by Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500 – 1553). ...

"Throughout the Middle Ages, Christmas was a season of festivities and celebrations, just as it is today. 25 December was certainly a high point of this festive season, beginning the twelve days of Christmas which would last until Epiphany. On three occasions in the early medieval period, the Christmas Day celebrations may have been more extravagant than usual: on Christmas Day in 800, 855 and 1066, merrymakers also celebrated the coronations of the very first Holy Roman Emperor and two English kings with interesting legacies. ...

Editor's Tips

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